Romina Ashrafi, a teenage Iranian girl, had once fled the family home with 34-year-old Bahamn Khavari after her father expressed outrage at their plans to get married.
The two were found after both of their families contacted authorities, leading security forces to conduct a five-day hunt before detaining the couple and taking Romina home according to The Daily Mail.
This did not go down well with her father as he killed her with a farming sickle in her family home in Hovigh, Talesh county, as a form of punishment.
After committing the murder, Romina’s father allegedly handed himself in to police and confessed to the crime, while still holding the bloodied murder weapon.
District governor Kazem Razmi said the girl’s father is being held in custody and an investigation into the case is underway.
Also, the Vice President for Women’s Affairs Masoumeh Ebtekar has also announced a ‘special order’ to investigate the murder while her father faces a prison sentence of up to 10 years if convicted.
Romina’s father will escape the death penalty because he was Romina’s ‘guardian’, and Islamic Penal Code means he is exempt from ‘qisas’, or ‘retaliation in kind.’
Also, Sharia law says that only blood owners and immediate family members are allowed to demand execution for the murder of a relative.
This indicates that most honour killings go unpunished since families tend not to demand the death sentence for another family member.
Fariba Sahraei, a senior editor at Iran International, said:
Every year in Iran, women, and girls are killed by their male relatives under the guise of defending their honour, but the nature of Romina Ashrafi’s murder is one that has shocked the country and the rest of the world.
While the exact number of honour killings in Iran is not known, a Tehran police official has previously said they account for around 20 percent of Iran’s murders.
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